Most-watched soccer games on US TV for February 18-24, 2019

The first legs of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 games last week averaged 822,750 viewers across all networks. Univision’s Spanish-language broadcasts accounted for 54% of the viewership with 443,000 average viewers, while TNT’s English-language broadcasts averaged 379,750 viewers. First leg viewership peaked on Tuesday with 510,000 viewers watching Liverpool’s 0-0 draw with Bayern Munich on TNT and Galavision. At the same time, an additional 376,000 watched Univision’s Spanish-language broadcast of Barcelona’s match against Olympique Lyonnais on UniMás and Univision Deportes.

Closer to home, Univision Deportes Network averaged just 162,250 viewers for their four CONCACAF Champions League Round of 16 broadcasts last week, down over 40% from 277,250 in 2018. A large portion of the drop can be attributed to the lack of Mexico’s two largest clubs (Club América and Chivas de Guadalajara, which both featured on broadcast last season).

Leicester City’s 4-1 defeat to Crystal Palace last Saturday afternoon delivered NBC’s sixth least-watched Premier League broadcast of the 2018-19 season. Premier League broadcasts on NBC are averaging 846,476 viewers, down slightly from 863,348 viewers through the same point last season.

About The Author

4 Comments

DavidMarch 4, 2019

Aren’t these TV ratings somewhat skewed when they omit B/R Live, ESPN+ and NBC Gold. As these can all be watched on a TV with Apple TV or an equivalent, surely to be meaningful they should all be included.

Those viewing numbers are miniscule in comparison, which is why those three broadcasters don’t make them publicly available. In the next few years, those viewing numbers should grow to something worth reporting.